Car-operated mine door



l 2 9 1 7 a O can OPERATED MINE noon \m w 1% w n h w m r t INVENTORWITNESSES Patented ct. 7, 192

' JOHN HLMILLER, or PINEvILLE, KENTUCKY.

can-ornaacrnn MINE noon.

Application filed January 13, 1924. Serial BTW-637,292.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN H. MILLER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Pineville, in the county of Bell and State of Kentucky, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Car-Operated Mine Doors, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to door operating mechanism and has for itsobject the provision of means mounted along a mine track and engageableby a car traveling thereover whereby to automatically open the safetydoors-commonly provided, the device having the great advantage ofobviating all necessity for manual operation.

An important object is the provision of an apparatus of thi s' characterincluding operating means engageable by the car wheels, other operatingmeans being pro vided to insure action in the event of fail ure of thewheel operated means.

Yet another object is'the provision of a device of this characterprovided with means for automatically reclosing the doors after the carhas passed through.

An, additional object is the provision of structure for this purposewhich will be simple and inexpensive in manufacture, and installation,positive inaction, efficient'and durable in service and a ment in-theart.

With the above and other objects and advantagesin view the inventionconsists in the details of construction to be hereinafter more fully.described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the complete device, the doors being shownclosed in full lines and open by dotted lines,

Figure 2 is a longitudinal section,

Figure 3 is a detail section onqthe line 3-3 of Figure 1,"

Figure 4 is a detail cross'section through one of the actuating members,

Figure 5 is a detail section on the line 5-5 of Figure 1, V 1 V Figure 6is a'detail section on the line 6-6 of Figure 1,

Figure 7 is a detail'perspective view of one of the door carriedbrackets.

Figure 8 is a detail section on the line 8-8 of Figure 1.

Referring more particularly to the drawings the letter A designates atrack including the usual ties B carrying the rails C.

general improve-.

The letter D indicatesthe bulkhead having a door opening adapted to beclosed by 3 doors E which are hinged as shown at the side edges of theopening.

The invention consists in providing means for opening and closing thesedoors automatically, and in carrying it out, I pro vide' supports 10stationarily mounted at opposite sides of the door way and havingpivoted thereto, at 11, a sectional ramp 12 including sections Band 14:,hingedly connected as shown'at The sections 13 ascend while the sections14 descend, and the free ends of the sections 14: are s'lid'able uponwea-rplates 16 which are formed with slots 17 for the passage ofdepending 18 carried by the sections. I 91 v 'Secured upon a tie at eachside' of the door way is a plate 19 having pairs of, spaced cars 20between which are pivoted arms 21 carriedby a rock shaft 22'whichprojects beyond one side of the track and which has'its projecting endequipped with a long arm 23 having a weight 24c'slidably adjustablymounted thereon. On the underside of each ramp section 13 is a forkedelement 25' within which is pivoted at 26 a depending'linlc 27 pivotallyconnected at 28v with. an arm 29 projecting from the rock. shaft 22 sothat when the ramp is depressed by passage of the car along the track,the effect will be to rock the shaft 22.

Carried the hinged edge of each door is a curved bracket 30 having aforked end 31' within which is pivoted one end of a reachzrod'32 havinga turn buckle 33 inter posed therein for adjusting purposes, Carried byeach rock shaft 22 is an arm 34: pivoted at ,to an elongated yoke whichhas its bight portion formed with a hole. The reach rods 32 extendthrough these holes and along the yokes 36 and through cross members .37in the-yokesi whichjconstitute guides. Within the. yokes,

' the ,rods 32 are encircled by coil springs ElSwhich bear againstthebight portions of the yokes and'against adjusting nuts 39 threadedonto the rods;

The doors carry oppositely extending brackets 40 at the hinged edgesthereof connected by a bridle bar 41 which insures simultaneousoperation of the doors.

guides In the operation of the device up to this point, it will be seenthat when a car approaches the door way from either side, the passage ofthe car over a ramp will cause depression thereof and consequent rockingof the shaft 22 as above described. dhen either shaft 22 is thus rocked,it is apparent that the arm 34 will swing away from the doors so that apull will be applied. to the yoke 36. This pull is transmitted to theassociated rod 32 and as this rod connected with the bracket 30 on adoor, the result will be that the doors will he swung into open positionas indicated by dotted lines in Figure 1 so that the car may passthrough. The weights 24 operate to return the parts to normal position.

Attention is called to the fact that'the ramp sections are angular incross section and that they are located immediately against the rails,the sections being formed with upstanding flanges 42 which project abovethe rails so as to be engaged by the treads of the wheels. This specificconstruction is preferred as it. obviates any necessity for providing anelement on the car to engage the ramp.

To insure operation in the event of failure of the ramp'structure, Imake use of an auxiliary operating mechanism. This feature involves theprovision of upstanding posts 43 located at the opposite sides of thetrack at one side of the door way. Hinged upon these posts are bars 44which normally ex tend in obstructing relation across the track andwhich are equipped with buffer rods or wear members 45 which willprevent damage when the bars are engaged by a car. It might also bementioned n passing that the doors E are likewise equipped with similarbuffer bars 46 for the same purpose.

The numeral 47 designates supporting sills which extend from the posts43 to the bulkhead I), which sills form supports for levers 48 pivotedthereon as shown at 49. These levers are pivotally connected at one endwith links 50 which are pivoted to brackets 51 on the bars 44. Pivotedat 52 on the sills are other levers 53 which are pivotally connected atone end with the adjacent lever 48 by means of links 54, and which havepivoted to their other ends reach rods 55 equipped with turn buckles 56and connected with brackets 57 on the doors.

In case the track mechanism fails to operate, it is apparent that a carapproaching the door-way from that side equipped with the bars 44, willstrike against these bars and swing them outwardly as indicated bydotted lines in Figure 1. When this movement occurs, the link and levermechanism will operate to swing the doors E into open position. Quitenaturally, it will be seen that when the doors are opened by the rampmechanism, the bars 44 will be swung even though they are not engaged.by the car.

From the foregoing description and a study of the drawings it will beapparent that I have thus provided a simply constructed and easilyinstalled mechanism for automatically opening the safety doors upon theapproach of a car from either direction so that it will be unnecessaryfor the operator of the car to open the doors manually. The mechanismreally consists of comparatively few parts which may be of very ruggedconstruction so as to withstand hard service without derangement.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention it is of course to be understood that I reserve the right tomake such changes in the form, construction and arrangement of parts aswill not depart from the spirit of the invention or the scope of thesubjoined claims.

I claim:

1. Means for operating hingedlyimounted mine-doors along a track way,comprising rock shafts journaled across the track Way opposite sides ofthe door opening and carrying arms, sectional hingedly connectedrampsextending along the track way and connected with said arms, saidramps being positioned for engagement by thewheels of a can passingalong the track brackets on the hinged edges of the doors, meansconnecting the doors for effecting simultaneous operation, reach rodsconnected with said brackets, and other arms on the rock shaftsconnected with the reach rods, said last name-d connection consisting ofyokes carried by the last named arms and through which the reach rodsare slidable, and yield able tension means within the yokes.

2. Operating means for hinged safety mine-doors extending across atrackway, comprising supports along the track way at opposite sides thereof,horizontal bars pivoted on said supports and obstructing the track wayfor engagement by a car, levers pivoted on the supports and connectedwith said bars, other levers pivoted on the supports and connected withthe first named levers, and reach rods pivotally connected with thesecond named levers and with the doors.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature.

JOHN H.

Ill)

